Slayers: Death's Aria
by Hacked It Out and Fell
Summary: Been forever since I worked on DA but I have two more chapters up and currently working on more! During the War of the Monster's Fall lived a girl that was an agent of Xellos and this is her story. A Slayers Pre-History story!
1. Default Chapter

Ok first attempt at a multi part Slayers fic. It's going to be an alternate  
universe that will focus more on Xellos. I may run it all the way up into   
present day for the Slayers. Please Read and review.  
  
I don't own Slayers or anything related to it!  
  
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Slayers Aria.   
  
  
Prologue  
  
The war of the Monster and Dragons had raged for years. For generations upon   
generations the war was burned into the memory of the humans that lived   
then. They lived as best they could trying to stay unnoticed by either side.  
A few brave souls would try to hinder the monsters as well as they could   
with their meager powers. Others tried to learn to fight fire with fire.   
  
Magic was being studied. Rapidly any knowledge that could be used was and   
more was always being gathered. White Magic was the primary study, anything   
that could hurt the monsters. Black Magic was frowned on, and shunned but a   
few did choose to use it. They studied the Monster Lords and their unique   
powers. From that powerful spells of black magic were created. Many died   
from casting them unable to control the energy that was called down.   
  
The Monsters were aware that humans had started to call on their power for   
themselves. They delighted in this and so began the slow process of   
corruption of the human race. They would find the black mages and eventually   
bind them or kill them. The spells that had created by the mages would be   
destroyed, forever lost to world. One such monster who was better than any   
at his work was Xellos.   
  
Xellos was known for his power and his charm. No one was stronger than him.   
His pleasant personality was something that would throw humans off. He was   
not impressive in his human guise, and he liked being under-estimated.   
He also used this guise when he did what he was best at. Destroying the   
enemy, Dragons. Today would be no different.  
  
  
  



	2. Follow the Dragons

  
  
Slayers or anything related does not belong to me. The character of Aria does belong to me.   
  
  
Chapter one  
  
Aria stood outside the village looking at the sky. She had heard them all night as they passed   
over head. They were too many just to be migrating. She looked around the village as people   
started getting ready to abandon it. They all knew what the sound they heard last night would   
bring. No one spoke, they just worked on getting ready to leave. Aria watched the village   
leaders point to a map. She knew that was where they were hoping to settle. She wished them luck   
as she walked past them leaving the village going deeper into the Kahttao Mountains.  
  
Aria was not a young girl, she had lived for over twenty years in this time of war. In her own   
eyes and heart she felt to old. Her physical apreance led many to misjudge her though. She   
looked to be eighteen or so. Dark black eyes took in her surrounding as she traveled. She was   
small so she moved easily among the rocky trail. She kept her black hair pulled up into a tight   
pony tail so it didn't bother her. She always wore the same, dark brown pants and a dark green   
tunic style shirt to help her hide in the woods. A pack carried on her back held her only   
possessions. She was obviously a loner.  
  
She sighed to herself as she looked up listening for the sounds of battle or of dragons.   
Nothing was making a sound. That caused her to frown deeply. No birds, or animals could be heard.  
Even the wind seemed to have given into the ominous quiet of the mountains. She adjusted her   
pack and kept going, higher up into the mountains. Soon she was to the point she was just   
making her way into the wilderness that had never been touched by man.   
  
As she traveled she thought of her life, she knew most thought of her as cursed. Born in a savage  
attack by monsters, she was the only one to live. Her first four years of life was being   
passed from stranger to stranger, but no one wanted the dark child. She grinned actually liking   
the name that was given to her by the villages of her youth. She had found a home by five with a   
man that studied magic. Of course she didn't know what magic was, but she learned quickly. Aria   
by age nine knew more black magic than most adults. Now for decision not of her choice she was   
forever shunned in the eyes of the people around her.  
  
Aria was distracted from her thoughts as a noise caught her attention. She dropped her pack and   
eased forward. Covering her mouth quickly as she saw them. They were so many of them. She had   
of course seen them in her travel and most then were dead, but this was almost over whelming.   
The mountain before her was alive with Gold Dragons.  
  
"By the Gods, so many of them..." She breathed silently as she stood there mesmerized by them.  
  
She backed away and picked up her pack and started moving again. She was guessing that the   
dragons were just stopping for the night. She would travel through tonight and try to get ahead   
of them. She couldn't believe that so many would come out here to battle. She couldn't help but   
wonder how big an army they would fight.  
  
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Aria cursed for the twentieth time that night. She had tripped again and this time landed her on  
her face. She growled to herself in total frustration and began to set up camp. She would give up   
traveling for now. She looked at the sky and she knew that there should have been plenty of   
moonlight but in the shadows of the mountains and the dense forest it had become blocked She   
was not happy because she hoped she could get a head start on the dragons.  
  
"Well I hope this was the way they were coming." She talked to herself as she made a small fire   
and spread a half, drawn map out before her and began to fill it in, marking her journey.  
  
Yawning she put the map away and lay back against a rock. She knew the fire would keep the wild   
beasts away from her, but she worried it would also draw attention to her as well. She placed a   
small dagger in her hand and tried for sleep. 'Why do you do this Aria?' Her sleepy mind   
questioned as sleep over took the sorceress.  
  
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Aria awoke with a start to the deafening sound of dragons flying over head, roaring in deep   
long cries. She jumped to her feet and grabbed her pack and started throwing her stuff in it.   
Her heart was racing with fear and excitement. She knew the dragons were getting ready to battle.  
  
"Come on Aria get it together! Stop acting like a kid. You've seen a dragon fight before!" She   
talked to out loud to, trying to calm herself down. She was powerful sorceress yes, but she was   
still human.  
  
"Yes Aria, but you have never seen a dragon fight against me!" A cheery voice sounded from a   
tree branch over head.  
  
Black eyes flashed with anger and she kept herself from blowing a hole in the side of the   
mountain as she looked up to see who had spoke to her. She stood there glaring at a man with   
purple hair, and a smile that she knew was all too misleading. "Xellos."  
  



	3. A Choice of Life or Death

Chapter 2  
  
Aria awoke with a sense of displacement. Everything, everywhere ached, her head spun when she tried to sit up along with and her stomach was trying to regurgitate everything in it. She couldn't remember going to a bar or anything else for that matter. Moaning she opened her eyes and her senses came back to her. The putrid smell, and the sound of thousands of insects was enough to make her fall over and throw up everything that was left in her stomach. That was the least of worries the worst was still to come .It was the sight in front of her eyes that would haunt her to her last days. Dragons by the hundreds were laying on the ground dead. Their magnificent bodies lay sprawled in twisted shapes. The wings on which they flew were torn and ripped from their bodies. Tongues hung limply from mouths that were open in their finale cries of death. Empty eyes stared back at her. She did the only thing she could. She screamed and then fainted.  
  
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Aria came to a second time, still feeling like she had been on the receiving end of a lost fight. This time she opened her eyes first and looked up to the ceiling above her. 'Ceiling?' She didn't remember coming back to the village. She slowly sat up and her stomach lurched has she tried to be sick again but she had left everything previously in it on the mountain so she just heaved for a while till it passed. She looked around at the room she was in realizing it was the same inn she had been at a few days ago. Laying back she tried to remember what had happened and suddenly she wished she hadn't.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
"Now, now Aria is that any way to greet me?" Xellos smiled happily as he looked down on the fuming woman. "So why are you here? I thought you had an assignment?"  
  
"I finished it a week ago. I was traveling back and stopped at the inn when I heard the dragons flying over head during my stay there that night." She glared at the purple haired monster. She hated being sneaked up on.  
  
"So you just thought you would come see what was going on? Am I right? Ohh by that look I will assume yes. Well I'm not mad, don't worry about that. I was just rather surprised to see you out here." Xellos chuckled to himself as he fed off the anger that was coming from Aria.  
  
"Do you have another job you want me to do? Or do you just want me to leave? " She had relaxed now and her anger was fading away. She had learned early on her temper only made Xellos happy, so she taught herself to cool down quickly.  
  
"Oh no. I think as a reward for...how many years? Twelve years of loyal service to me, I will reward you by allowing you to stay. Oh dear look at the time. I must go and do my duty. Come along Aria." With that Xellos phased in next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist and phased out. A cry of surprise was left hanging in the air.   
  
(End Flashback)  
  
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"Some reward. No good monster." She sat up slowly, rubbing her head or rather the lump on it from passing out. Aria slowly got out of bed and looked for her pack. Finding it, she undressed and threw the clothes into the fire place. She never wanted to wear them again. She grabbed her spare clothes, wrapped a sheet about her and headed to the bath.  
  
Slipping into the water she was glad for the chance to scrub the dirt, filth and blood from her skin. "Blood..not mine..but still it was from a living creature....." She buried her face in her hands and started to cry. She hadn't cried like that in eleven years.  
  
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(Flashback)  
  
Aria was again controlling the urge to blast Xellos as she was set on a cliff . She spun to give him a piece of her mind but he had already phased out by the time she turned. "Damn it! What kind of reward is this?!" She looked everywhere for Xellos then found him, above her on the top of the mountain. She started to cast the spell that would take her to him but let her hands drop in front of her as the shock of seeing hundreds of dragons fly toward them broke her spell.  
  
'Oh my god, we're going to die. How can he fight so many?' Her mind was trying to cope with the thought of her actual death as she kneeled down and pressed herself against the cliff wall. She looked up to Xellos, he just stood there calm and smiling. 'One day I'll wipe that smile of your face Xellos' She thought to herself as she covered her ears with her hands. The sound of the dragon's battle cry was deafening. The air was vibrating from so many beating wings. Everything was buzzing with energy. She looked up at Xellos again and began to wonder where the other monsters were. She looked back over, knowing the dragons would be on them in just a few minuets. She was for once in her life terrified. She saw Xellos move and with a morbid fascination she watched him lift his arm and point a finger. Then her terror was justified. With nothing more than the sweep of his arm a beam of energy lanced the sky. She looked at the dragons. "He missed.." She couldn't believe he missed, then it happened. The explosion rocked everything. It began to rain dead and dying dragons, in a storm of blood. Aria could do nothing but stare in horror.   
  
(End Flashback)  
  
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Aria was clean and dry, her tears had been spent as she redressed. She with no more thought went back to the room and gathered her pack. She slung it over her back and then left the building, heading away from the mountains. She didn't know where she was going or nor did she care. She knew Xellos would find her.  
  
"Leaving already Aria?" Xellos phased in next to her and she stopped in the middle of the abandoned town. He was not smiling.  
  
"So I finally wiped that smile off your face. I never thought that it would take doing what I did to do it." Aria looked up to the sky, standing there before the monster. Her voice was low with remorse.  
  
"Yes, I really do wish you had tried to do it another way. I have to punish you for your failure in your duty to me. The Dark Lords are considering having you eliminated. They feel you might have become a threat." Xellos looked into her with his amethyst eyes. Holding her black ones in his. "Why did you do it Aria?" All she could do was look away.   
  
"I don't know..I really don't"  
  
(Flashback)  
  
Stumbling in a state of shock she walked about the edge of the dead dragons. Xellos had phased her  
down to level ground and was now searching among the bodies for survivors. He had a task to   
complete. She was sick at heart over what she had seen. Even with most of the dragons killed in   
the first attack the others kept coming. They flew straight into their death willingly. She wanted to scream, to cry out but her mind wouldn't let her just yet. She moved about in a complete daze when movement caught her eye. She stopped looking at the body of a dead dragon, or one she thought was dead. Out of instinct she readied a spell in her hands. Again the body moved and out from under it came a golden   
dragon. He obviously was hurt but not by the attack. His wing was ripped and he had blood   
running down his neck from a blow to the head. She let her spell fade.  
  
Her eyes looked up and met his. She could see the rage and anger burning in them and something   
inside her awoke. "No not anger! You will let Xellos... the monster know where you are and that   
you are alive! Please if you can understand me, go leave this place. He is killing any that   
survived!" She pleaded hoping he understood her. She prayed to who would listen to her that the   
dragon would leave and not be foolish enough to attempt an attack. Her worst fears were answered   
as he roared, rising going to defend his fallen clan. Aria ran in front of him and threw her   
arms wide. She had never cared so much in her life about anything that lived, but suddenly the   
whole world seemed to depend on her saving this dragon.  
  
"Listen to me! Your whole army could not defeat this one monster what makes you think you can alone! Retreat back to your people! Become stronger and then avenge them! Please I know him, you won't survive!" Aria was frantic, pleading to the massive dragon before her, suddenly her blood went cold as she felt the air ripple as Xellos phased in.  
  
"Aria! Stand away now!' Xellos was suddenly there, his eyes open visible with anger.  
  
"Master Xellos, please listen to me. I.. " She was shaking, she had never seen his anger so open.   
"No Aria you will listen to me. I am your Master, not the other way around. Now stand aside as I kill off this last pest." Xellos leveled his staff at the golden dragon. He smiled coldly.  
  
Aria moved obediently then stopped, again something inside her screamed at her not to let this happen. Swallowing a life time of servitude to Xellos, she placed herself between him and the dragon. Calling on Ruby Eyes she cast a spell that formed a blade of his energy and held it at ready. "No Master Xellos, I can't."  
  
Xellos stepped back, shaken by her direct disobedience. She had always been disrespectful but never openly disobedient. He lowered his staff at her, looking at the girl with a smile so cold it froze her blood in her veins with fear. "Now Aria what makes you think you mean that much to me?" He chuckled in an unpleasant way.  
  
"I don't think I mean that much to you, you are a monster. How could anything mean something to you. All I know is that this dragon has to live. There has been to much death today. Please Master Xellos I beg you, I have never asked anything of you personally in all this time but I ask now. Let him live. What harm can there be in letting one gold dragon live??" Aria was quickly being drained from holding the spell and from the mental anguish she felt. She was frantic and full of fear.  
  
Xellos stood before her and shook his head. She was right what harm could one dragon cause, but he had orders. He was feeding from the fear she was emitting, a nice meal after using so much energy, but there was something else there he had never felt. A desperate need and regret. He was puzzled by this. Her desire was stronger than anything he had ever felt. He had no idea what it was that Aria had done to make him decide to grant her plea, but he would. She would never know it though.  
  
Aria trembled as she faced off with Xellos, she began to shake her body going into shock. She sank to her knees and the spell faded. She swallowed back her fear and anger soon began to replaced it. She was furious at herself. Now she understood why humans feared the Monster race. 'They..No. We are helpless' She corrected her thoughts feeling for the first time what that village must have felt. She never felt Xellos phase in beside her and strike her from behind.  
  
Xellos let Aria fall to the ground and then turned to the dragon. Smiling as always he did, he shrugged like nothing was wrong. "Now golden dragon, I can either kill you or let you go." His eyes opened and stared up at him. "I am going to let you live, but she will never know it. If Aria ever finds you are alive, I will kill you both. What is your name dragon?" Xellos fed from the rage that was pouring out from the dragon . He knew there would be trouble from this, but with this turn of events Aria had made him wonder. She was always loyal and dutiful to him, what was it she saw in this one dragon that made her throw it all away."Well, Milgazia, you know what is required of you. Leave before I change my mind." Xellos left to finish his work.   
  
Milgazia left looking back at the small human laying on the ground. He would owe her a debt for all eternity and he could never repay it. He knew that when next a human would need his aid, he would help them. He turned and left, never to see Aria again. "Thank you human girl. You who walk between light and dark. I will do my best to aid your species in the times to yet to come.  
  
(End Flashback)  
  



	4. Punishment

  
  
  
Punishment   
  
Aria walked down a hallway that smelled of wet earth, and musty caves. She   
was not happy about it , she knew that her fear of what was to come was   
feeding every monster in the fortress. She looked at the cold, unforgiving   
eyes of the stone statues lining the hall, as they sent a chill down her   
spine. At the end of the hall she came to a pair of doors, pausing she   
placed her hands on them and willed them open. Walking in she did not lift   
her to any one in the room, at the center she kneeled and let her head hang   
low. "You have summoned me, Lord Phibrizo, Lord Gavv, Lord Beast Master an  
Lord Dynast." She remained in that position, afraid to breathe.  
  
"Yes, we have been made aware to your disobedience and it is now time for   
you to be punished." Hell Master chuckled, pleasantly. He had chose look no   
older than Aria, in fact if one were unknowing they would take the two for   
twins. He walked around her and brushed back her long hair, smiling. "Oh yes,  
my song of death, you must be punished. Normally I would just have you   
killed, but Xellos has expressed his unhappiness with that decision so I   
have found a new punishment. One, I think, that will be just as fun." He   
walked back to his position in front of her, laughing madly.  
  
"Next time you decide to pick a fight little girl, know the consequences."   
Gavv looked down on her with a cold hate.  
  
"Yes, Yes we all know you love to fight, but now comes the punishment."   
Phibrizo looked to be all too pleased with himself. He smiled as the girl   
who was raised in their midst, trembled before him. He chuckled as he   
paused, feeling her fear build as the silence became deafening. In a low   
soothing voice he spoke slowly to her, as he kneeled down and lifted her   
chin. "Aria, since you have been loyal to us, for the last twelve years I   
have choose to seal your magic away. For one year you will not set foot in   
this fortress nor will you be called on. You will live as a ordinary   
pathetic human." He bent over and kissed her for a long moment. Feeding   
deeply from the fear and confusion breaking the kiss to let go of her chin.   
"Now for the rest of your punishment. I have been easy on you Aria, but for   
such a crime I can not just give you a vacation like that. Oh no. For one   
year the humans shall be under attack by my monsters, for your mistakes your   
race shall suffer as well. If you can survive, you will be welcomed back   
home and the attacks stopped. If not, you will be a good meal for someone."  
  
Aria trembled, she hated Phibrizo more than any monster. Her mind screamed   
out in out rage at such a decree. `How? How can he punish everyone for what   
I did.' Looking up she gathered her courage. "No Lord Phibrizo please, why   
punish everyone for what I have done?" She tried to keep her voice even, and   
calm.  
  
Phibrizo just laughed and Aria found herself surrounded by dark energy, a   
feeling of emptiness came over her and her mind fought to stay awake. In her   
mind a voice spoke. "If you can live and return, then and only then, will I   
answer you again." Hearing this the world faded to darkness as the black   
void engulfed her.  
  
  
"Aria, wake up Aria. I do not have much time." Xellos stood over the woman   
who seemed to have been spending lot of time unconscious these last few days.   
He watched her come to slowly, looking about in confusion at the fact he was   
standing over her and she was laying in the middle of a dirt road.  
  
"Xellos where am I? Where is this? How did I get here?" Aria stood, a bit   
unsteady and looked about herself.  
  
"A days journey from here, there is a town, go there and live your year out.   
The town is small and the people or full with positive emotions." Xellos to   
Aria's amusement turned a few shades of green. "Aria, make sure you survive   
and come back to me at the end of one year. I have an assignment for you to   
do, I would prefer it was done now, but it can wait till the year is over.  
Do not disappoint me by allowing yourself to be killed." Xellos opened his   
eyes, looking at Aria and then phased away.  
  
Xellos sat on a tree branch watching Aria walk toward the town, he could feel  
her worry, unsure of how life would be now. He didn't know why he had lowered  
himself to ask Lord Hell Master for leniency she was but a human girl. She   
made him think and feel things inside that no one had managed to ever inspire  
and he doubted anyone could ever take her place. She made him question his   
own being at times and he could feel her delight at his frustration when he   
would ask her why she did something a certain way and her reply was always   
that it was a secret. She bedeviled him and was not afraid. No human before   
her was so casual about life. "Well so casual about life now." Xellos   
chuckled to himself as he remembered Aria in her first few years serving   
under him.  
  
  
Aria approached the town wearily, she had never been without her magic like   
this. She looked about as the shops were closing and the people turning in   
from a long day of work. She stopped looking about for an inn someplace she   
could sleep tonight. Wandering the streets she studied the people, they were   
pleasant enough she supposed. "Relaxed even in this time of war, how can   
they do it?" She spoke softly to herself.  
  
Stopping next to a tavern she dug in her pack and pulled her money purse   
checking it. She was amazed to see it full of gold. `Thank you Xellos.' She   
would never understand that monster. He was incapable of feelings that   
involved caring and love yet he did small things like the coins. She smiled   
and went in to have something to eat along with a good, strong drink.  
  
Sitting at a table by herself she waited on her food, sipping her drink. She   
watched the people and a realization hit her. Unless she moved on, she would   
be seeing these people almost everyday for the next year. That was a thought   
that unsettled her. She wasn't used to seeing people on a regular, steady,   
neighborly way of life. One old man in the opposite corner of the room held   
her interest. She studied him closely, most she had seen were hard working   
people. Their body movement and talk proved that, but not this man. No he   
was a mage or a scholar perhaps. She looked away when he turned his gaze   
directly to her, locking his eyes with hers for a moment.  
  
Soon her meal came and she devoted herself to it. She never realized how   
hungry she was until she was nearly through with her meal and contemplating   
seconds when a shadow fell over her table. Looking up it was the old man.   
Swallowing her food, she looked at him. "Hello. Can I help you?"  
  
"No, I was just wondering if a young lady like yourself would like the   
company of an old man for a bit of conversation?" He chuckled at her   
startled expression as he sat down across from her. He was gray and hunched   
over,but how strong he is couldn't be seen. His robes hid too much from the   
eye. "Now what brings a young woman like you to a small town like this?" His   
blue eyes searched hers as she finished her last bite.  
  
"I thought it might be a good place to live, for a while. Traveling for   
several years does make one weary." Aria could sense the power coming from   
him. He was a mage, a powerful mage. She kept her voice calm and neutral.   
"May I know your name?"  
  
"Oh of course! Where are my manners? Old age I suppose. I am Aitrus, and   
your name young lady?" He chuckled in a pleasant, jolly old manner.  
  
"I am Aria." She knew the stories of the old man before her, he was a mage   
that studied black magic and the way the stories told it, he had betrayed   
his Master. He was supposed to be dead.  
  
"So you are the infamous Aria of Death, I thought so. Your magic has been   
sealed it seems. A small town such as this would be a good place to hide for   
one who has so many enemies. Where are you going to stay?" He stroked his   
beard absently, watching with amusement, the shock that played on her face.  
  
"I guess the inn." She stammered.  
  
"No you won't. You will come back to my house, where it is safe and you will   
tell me all about yourself. It is not often that two people that have defied   
the Monsters meet and have a chance to swap stories." He rose and left gold   
to pay for her meal on the table. "Now let us go and talk of deeper matters." 


	5. FlashBack!

Heh I still don't own Slayers, but Aria is my creation. Please R&R.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Aria didn't care to remember her life before the age of five. She couldn't help it that her village had been destroyed on the night of her birth. She didn't know why she had lived. She didn't like to remember the fact she was passed from family to family, village to village. Even though she was a child, she heard the whispers, caught the scowls that people looked to her with. "The dark child is in the village again." "Death, she brought it to her village by her very birth." "She's evil, some Monster's spawn, I say!" She never really knew what love was, or a caring family.   
  
Aria's first taste of a stable home was when a man who was feared by everyone in the area asked for her. She didn't know why everyone feared him, all she could see was this mas was like her. Hated by people. She gladly went with him, unafraid to take his offered hand. Everyone said he was a mage, whatever that was. To an unloved five year old, just having someone that actually wanted her was the greatest thing in the world.   
  
Aria settled into her new life, she was a bright child no one could have denied that. She helped her new father out as best she could, getting plants he wanted, books, bottles or anything else she could reach. She was always with him, and he never once minded her questions. She asked about what it was he was doing, what was magic, what the difference was between black and white. She learning the craft without realizing it.   
  
The mage was often visited by a strange man, he was tall and dressed as someone who traveled a lot. When he would come a lot to talk with her new Father. Magic was the usual topic along with the Monsters. She still wasn't clear on what they were. The purple haired man always smiled and often brought her candy. He spoke fondly to her, telling her what a cute little imp she was. She soon started to call him Uncle Xellos. At the age of six she was smiling happy child.  
  
"Father teach me magic, I want to learn." He looked down at the mass of black tangles and big eyes that were turned his way. Chuckling he nodded, bending over picking her up he sat her on his lap and began with the basics. Every day before lunch he would spend an hour teaching her, then before supper he would give her another lesson. The nights were spent telling her of the Monster Race and the Dragons. He would not hide what he was or who he worked for from her.  
  
At the age of seven she walked with her Father into a room she was never allowed to be in. She looked about in awe at the books and scrolls scattered about the room. She walked behind him wondering why he let her come here now.   
  
"Aria, I have a question for you. You are a smart little girl, you have learned all that I can teach you of basic magic. Now you have a choice. I can teach you black magic, or I can send you somewhere that can teach you white. It is your choice. I have taught you the difference between them." He looked down on the small girl before him with pride, never imaging she would have  
brought him this much joy. He had looked for a child he could train as a servant and assistant, never dreaming he would find an adopted daughter.  
  
"You have taught me black magic is evil, and white is good. You use black magic but you are not evil. So I choose black." Aria looked at him with a determined gaze, one he knew meant there was no changing her mind.  
  
"Why do you choose black, is it only because I am a black mage?" He wanted to know the reasons behind her choice. To understand her better and how to teach her.  
  
"People say you are evil and that I am evil. If those people are good, then I want to be evil." Her voice had grown quiet.  
  
"No. No my Little Song. You and I are not evil, we are human the same as everyone else. A persons actions are what dub them good or evil. Let me explain this to you." He picked her up and carried her to a large chair and sat her on his lap. "Aria, we live in a era of change, what everyone has known for countless years is changing. They are afraid and superstitious fearing what they can not see or understand. They are good people out there in the villages, they just try to survive as best they can. Magic scares them and magic drawn from negative power they feel is evil, but magic in itself is not evil. I study and practice black magic to understand it and to use it better. Man can benefit from black magic if they would only stop being afraid." He paused to see if she understood him.  
  
"What about monsters? They are evil and you work for them?"   
  
"Yes, I use the monsters as they use me. I learn what I can from them and for my actions it does make me evil. I am not proud of what I have done with my life, but if what I can learn from the monsters helps, then I can live with myself." He hoped she would not ask what he had done, he wasn't ready yet to tell her that he was the one that found her, naming her Aria for her cries of life,that he heard, or to reveal he had destroyed her village under orders from the monsters.  
  
"So are all black mages trying to help like you?" She was slowly starting to understand.  
  
"Sadly no Aria, most who are black mages do it for power and greed. Remember there is an exception to everything and to everyone. I am the exception to black magic. I use negative to made positive." He smiled to her, yes she would be alright. She understood more than she knew, all she needed was teaching.  
  
"Uncle Xellos doesn't seem to be an evil monster." She looked confused at the shocked expression on his face.  
  
"You know that he is a monster? How long? How?" He thought that had been well hid from her. He never imagined she knew that.  
  
"One night I couldn't sleep, so I snuck out of bed and hid listening to you and Uncle Xellos talking. You said he was a monster, what could he know of being human." She was timid now admitting her crime of sneaking out of bed.  
  
He thought for a moment and remembered that conversation. Xellos was visiting again, talking of a new mage that had discovered something he should have never known about. He wanted him killed. After business, Xellos stayed and a heated debate was held about the nature of humans and monsters. "No Xellos is the exception to the Monster race. He is curious about things." He looked at  
her confused expression and chuckled. "Monster feed from negative emotions and generally care for nothing but power and destruction. Xellos on the other hand has curiosity, something that is neither negative or positive. He also takes time to try to understand a bit better who his enemy is. True such a relationship to a monster is a double edged sword but, one must take risks." He explained things to her well into the night and the next day her life as a black sorceress was born.  
  
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Xellos stood in the shadows watching her and her Father. He had been given an order that he did not look forward to carrying out. He did not care for the humans, but it troubled him to see them killed. "An order, is an order." He would give them this one last day he decided, as he phased out.  
  
Aria had just turned nine years old and she was well schooled in magic, black being her forte. She had devoted the last two years of her life to learning what she could, she let go of her childhood to become an adult. She knew black spells that others had only dreamed about knowing, though admittedly she couldn't cast most of them yet. She would have to grow physically before she could do that, but just the knowledge she knew made her feared.   
  
She walked down to the lab carrying their lunch. She knew Father would forget to eat if she didn't remind him. She entered setting down the food out of the way, going over to where he was translating some text found deep in the mountains to the south. It was something about a Lord above all Lords. She was a bit mad that he wouldn't explain further.   
  
The afternoon had passed quickly and had turned to dusk. Aria was about to go prepare dinner when Xellos phased into the room. She was immediately aware something was wrong. His smile was gone, instead he wore a grim expression. "Good evening Xavier."   
  
"So Xellos, by the look on your face I would guess? that you're here to kill me." He stood up straight and looked Xellos straight in the eye.  
  
"Yes. I have been ordered to eliminate you, Lord Hell Master finds you to be more of a threat than an advantage." Xellos met his gaze with a somber expression.  
  
"You seem to regret this. Is it possible for a monster to have feelings after all I wonder? You could just choose not to kill me. No, that won't happen ever. You have no choice in the matter, I know. Aria, what will happen to her?" He looked sharply at Xellos. He knew this day would come, he had hoped that it would be later much later.   
  
"Original orders were to kill her too, but I convinced Lord Phibrizo that she would be too useful. I will personally take her as my servant, training her and putting her skills to use for the Monster Race." Xellos was feeding from the despair coming from the child, but something didn't feel right. He pushed feeling away.  
  
"Aria come here." She ran to her Father, tears already running down her face. He kneeled and took held her letting her cry, hugging her tightly. "Listen to me Aria, remember the night when you asked to learn magic? Remember all that I told you that night? Never forget it. That knowledge will  
keep you alive. Do as Xellos asks you to do. It won't be easy, but you have to try. Do this for me ok?" He wiped her tears and smiled to her. "You're my Little Song, you became my light in a very dark world. Remember me, and what I stand for."  
  
"No..Father..I don't won't to be alone again..I hate Uncle Xellos, he is evil..you're wrong..he isn't different!" Aria could barely talk through her tears. All her fears and nightmares came rushing back to her. She had been safe, someone loved her. She wasn't evil in his eyes.   
  
"Shooo. No. No. Xellos is not the one to blame. He merely is the messenger. Do not blame him, I don't. He will protect you when no other can. Now I want you to go upstairs to your room, shut the door and do not come out. Xellos will come to get you. Do not look back and do not regret. I will guide you and be with you still. I love you my daughter, my Little Song." He held her  
close to him, hugging her one last time before sending her away.   
  
Aria let go and turned walking away slowly. She stopped before Xellos and looked up to him. "I won't blame you for following orders, I promised Father I wouldn't, but I can hate you for being afraid to stand up for what you don't like. You don't want to kill him..you're a monster..you should take joy in this, but you're not." Her brave resolve broke as Xellos opened his eyes looking at the girl with shock. She ran from the room never looking back.  
  
"She will come to understand how the Monster race thinks soon enough, but she is right isn't she? You don't want to do this. Why?" Xavier rose from the floor searching for an answer.  
  
"No I don't want to kill you, I think there is still too much value in you. But Orders are orders and I have no choice." Xellos was bothered by what the child had said. She was only nine years old, but there was an ageless quality to her that held Xellos's curiosity.   
  
He couldn't help but chuckle. "Well it's nice to know, I have not out lived all my usefulness at least in your eyes. What will you do with Aria though?" This was his only true fear left.  
  
"Aria will be taught more black magic than any human could dream of having. She will be a weapon to be used if needed. What I will train her to be is a go between. I think from all I have learned about humans in the last twenty years, that more contracts with the monster race can be made if a human is used to negotiate them." Xellos did owe much of what he knew the human  
emotions and thoughts to this man.  
  
"I see, negotiator and assassin. Wait a few years before you have her kill anyone. Give her time to grow and to adjust. And after she has done her first job, give her time then. Aria is after all human. She will possibly break down after her first kill. Don't rush her into another. Patience has it's  
rewards if you wait. Well lets stop putting it off." He closed his eyes and sent his love to Aria, saying one final goodbye to her.  
  
"I will give her at least two years to learn first. Then she will have her first assignment. This the only way I can reward you for your service to me by giving you a painless death." Xellos lowered his staff to the man and began to draw energy.  
  
"Thank you Xellos for Aria." He smiled to Xellos and closed his eyes. "Goodbye old friend."  
  
Xellos felt the feeling of friendship from him, and for a second time that night the humans had caught him off guard with their emotions. He shook his head and phased out, reappearing next to Aria who had cried herself into a restless sleep. Picking up the child he looked at her and felt a strange feeling within him. 'Why do you humans hold such power over me. Strange, I actually regret killing him.' Phasing out, he leaving the area with a smoking crater of where once a house and  
wizards lab once stood. 


	6. Life as a Servant!

Chapter 5  
  
Life as a Servant Begins!  
  
Aitrus sat across the living room of his house listening to the young woman   
before him. He stroked his beard thoughtfully, with an absent nod here and   
there. "So you have been around the Monster race for a long time it seems."  
  
"By the time I was ten, Wolf Pack Island had become my home. It's out beyond   
any land poeple have settled, very few people have seen or heard of it? Fewer  
have set foot on it's soil." She sipped her drink as she looked about. The   
room was huge, from the walls hung tapestries that depicted dragons battling   
monsters. The furniture was grand, the wood carved in detailed patterns. She   
sat in a chair that reminded her of one her Father had. She sighed, retelling  
her life had brought back a dull pain she had buried deep in her heart, one   
she thought she was immune to.  
  
"Tell me about your life afterwards." For him Aria was a gleaming gem in a   
pile of rocks. He had looked through countless magic users hunting someone   
that would be able to perform the experiment he wanted done. Not one of them   
came even close, but now, now in his home was a girl that was almost over   
qualified. He was most gratified ?.  
  
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(Flashback)  
  
Aria was just into the tenth year of her life, she was familiar with the   
fortress that was her home and the surrounding wilderness that over ran the   
island. She had learned quickly not to go anywhere that Xellos had not   
previously told her was safe. The beasts of the island were unfriendly in a   
deadly sort of way. She had a bedroom that was hers alone. She had been   
promised privacy by Zelas, she didn't believe in a Dark Lord's promise. Life  
was fairly routine , get up, eat and bathe then to studies that lasted well   
into the night, eat again, have a bit of time for herself and then to bed.   
Xellos had not lied when he said he would be personally responsable for Aria,  
he was there nearly every day to teach her.  
  
Aria had never been able to forgive Xellos for killing her father but had hid  
the feeling deep inside of herself. She would not give him the strength of   
her pain. She had also found ways to bring herself a small amount of joy and  
revenge. She started everyday off bursting from her room, with spirits high   
and a cheery. "Goodmorning Uncle Xellos! Beautiful day isn't it!" The first   
time she had done it caught Xellos totally off gaurd and he fells from the  
chair he was sitting in, dropping his cup of tea. Aria just fell to her knees   
double over in laughter. When she could control her laughter Xellos had asked  
her why and what she was doing. "Now Uncle Xellos, that is a secret!" It took  
Xellos three months to figure out that Aria was doing to him what he usually   
did to people. Aria was annoying him to death and loving every moment.   
  
Xellos was soon learning more about human than he ever wanted to know. Aria   
had a mean streak, she knew what hurt him and if she had a chance she used   
it. Xellos learned that humans grow rapidly, because Aria had out grown her   
clothes twice in the last year forcing Xellos to take her shopping. She   
laughed often around him, joked and talked about trivial things. She wasn't   
afraid of him in the least. He didn't image that anyone could become so   
comfortable around a monster.  
  
Xellos was waiting for his usual dose of positive energy to come from her bed  
room one morning when instead he heard a scream of terror. He phased in   
immediatly and found Aria huddled in next to her bed crying. Xellos was lost,  
what had happened? Aria explained that when she woke up her stomach was   
cramping, and about what she found when she went to the bath. She was   
terrified, she didn't know what was going on and neither did Xellos. He told   
her to calm down and phased out.   
  
Coming back Xellos explained to Aria what "that time of the month" was and   
that she wasn't going to die. He reached over wiped her tears and gave her a   
breif hug before phasing back out. Xellos had went to a village and found the   
healer asking her about Aria. When the healer explained, Xellos at least had   
the grace to make himself blush. Xellos was surpised to find out women didn't  
have any magic during that time. He shook his head at what life was putting   
him through.  
  
Life from then went smoothly for Aria till her eleventh birthday. That was   
when her life as a servant to the monster named Xellos began. She was capable  
of casting magic well beyond most who were considered Master's in black magic.   
Xellos explained to her that a mage in his service had decided to betray him.  
He wanted Aria to take care of the problem.  
  
Aria went where Xellos told her, and she did indeed find the mage, 'He was   
insane.' she decided. His eyes were wild, darting everywhere, he shook and   
mutttered laughing crazily. She wasn't stupid, she knew what Xellos had meant  
when he told her to take care of his problem. She closed her eyes and   
resolved not to think about what she had to do, just to do it. She closed her  
eyes and began to cast a spell, holding out her hand a swirling ball of black  
engery formed in it. She cast the ball into the room with the mage and it   
expanded filling the room. Aria tried to shut the sound of his terror filled   
scream out but it didn't work, the last sound she heard was anguished plea   
for Cepheid to save him before it was cut off. The black sphere faded and   
nothing was left. Aria fell to her knees going into shock, she had just   
killed somone. She never felt Xellos pick her up and phase back to the Island.   
  
It took nearly a month for her to come to terms with what she had done. She   
had seriously thought of killing herself and came close to it. In her mind   
she could not get rid of the the mans cries and pleas for help. Everytime she  
closed her eyes she saw it. Her killing that man. She would have went mad   
except for Xellos.   
  
Xellos knew she would take this badly, but she wasn't eating or sleeping. All  
she could do was cry. He was feasting on her misery but didn't enjoy it. He   
finally stepped in after finding her about to stab herself. "Aria! This is   
not the way. Life isn't nice, learn that now. Death is something that you   
will have to live with. Do not let all that your father did go to waste. Do   
not tarnish his memory by being weak. Do not let all that I have done to   
honor his last request be for nothing. Aria you must live with what it is   
you are. You are my servant and it is not an easy job, but if you do not snap  
out of this the Dark Lords will demand you die. I can not do anything then.   
I will give you one more day to come to terms with this."   
  
She shook as he grabbed her hand forcing her to drop the dagger. She wanted   
to end this misery. She didn't care anymore till he spoke. His voice held   
something in it that she had never heard before. Concern there in his voice   
and in his eyes. They bore into her soul and she saw a flicker of something   
she didn't think possible in them, for a brief moment she saw compassion.   
  
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"From that moment on I lived doing what he assigned me. I question it of   
course and he tells me that it's not my place to. We have that kinda   
understanding I guess. When I turned fourteen I left and traveled the world,   
going where I was told to and never staying in one place." Aria looked tired,  
and she felt she had lived a life that was too long.  
  
"So you say this Xellos is very different from the others?" He was most   
pleased in this girl.  
  
"Xellos is the closest to being human you might say. I have met most of the   
Dark Lords and know the hierarchy pretty well. No one is as close to it as   
Xellos. He is the exception to the Monster Race." Aria chuckled knowing full  
well how human Xellos could be. "I don't think he realizes it though."  
  
"Aria during the next year I want you to stay here and work under me. I have  
some thoeries that you could help me with. I have never met anyone with as   
much experience or knowledge as you. I hope you will take me up on this." He   
threw another log onto the fire watching the embers fly up and float in the   
air before slowly going out.  
  
"Why not? I have no where else to go." Aria was glad this had come up, she   
really didn't look forward to getting a job in some tavern or field.  
  
"Good then in the morning we will begin" The old man chuckled merrily   
watching the roaring flames. 


	7. A New Life to Live

Author's notes - Wow been forever since I wrote. Well these have been sitting on my comp and I'm going to go ahead and put them up and then try to finish the story. Thanks to all that reviewed!! Enjoy!  
  
  
  
I do not own Slayers but Aria is mine and so are a few others here too.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
  
  
Morning came and with it the sun, Aira moaned pulling the cover over her head as she tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use . She yawned and streched looking about the richly decorated walls and ceiling. She could get used to this, she thought to herself. Rising slowly she remembered her new position as the old man's assistant.  
  
"Now he said there would be clothes in here that would probably fit me." She told to herself as she opened the wardrobe She then gasped at all the clothes. She couldn't believe all different styles of dresses that hung in it. "Dresses..." She sighed unable to find a single pair of pants. Resigned to the horrible fate of having to wear a dress, she picked out a simple one of a deep blue color. Stripping off her night gown she threw it into a pile on the bed while looking the dress over.  
  
Morning Aria! Beautiful day isn't it!" Xellos phased in right behind her, with a smile that said he was all to pleased with himself.  
  
Aria nearly jumped out of skin and didn't bother to hold back the scream that came out of her. Whirling, she glared at Xellos and started cursing at him in every language she knew and a few she didn't. "Get out you pervert! I'm trying to dress here! Damn it can't you give me some privacy! OUT! NOW!*" Aria went through the motions of spell casting to blow that smile right of Xellos's face, only to suceed in making him laugh when nothing happened.  
  
"Ahh, that was a wonderful breakfast." Phasing out he left her to put on something other than her birthday suit.  
  
Aitrus outside her door chuckled to himself. "Well this next year shall be an interesting one, I think."  
  
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After breakfast was over and she was subjected to be the object of laughter from the old man because the incedent with Xellos earlier, Aria was in a bad mood. "Okay I was wrong, I could definitly not get used to this." She was doing the morning dishes, one of the many bits of drudgework assigned to her, all the while muttering and fuming about being treated like a common house girl. After the last dish, she decided to chop wood thinking that applying a little brute force might make her feel better even if she was hitting the wrong target.  
  
The wood pile was small, unorganized and snake heaven. She felt her mood grow darker. Walking around to the chopping block, she picked up the axe and began. Ten minutes later and five pieces of wood, Aria was pooped. Sighing, she reached for another piece when suddenly a small hand axe flew past her head and into the wood pile beside her. Aria, for the second time in as many hours,screamed.  
  
  
  
Aitrus was in the study going over some notes when again he heard her scream. Running as fast as his old body let him, he hurried out the back door and found Aria threating to club a tall sandy haired man. The man was trying to explain something and duck at the the same time as Aria swung at him again. "Oh life is going to much, much more interesting now." He observed.  
  
  
  
"What in the ever loving world are you doing?! You nearly hit me! For that matter who are you?!" Aria had backed the man againt a tree, her weapon raised.  
  
"I was saving your life! You nearly reached for a viper! Some thanks! Now put down the log I'm not your enemy!" Green eyes sparkled with surprise and shock at the firery temper of the woman.  
  
"Children play nice. I'm trying to work here." Atrius had come up unnoticed. "Aria I would like you to meet Gilford Grey, Gilford Grey I would like you to me my new assistand Aria." He watched them look at each other. Aria full of distrust and unsure about this Gilford person. Gilford excited and captivated by Aria. "Gil comes around once a week and does things like chop wood and other outside chores that old age prevents me from doing. Aria I want you to help him now when he comes around. Ah no buts Aria, it won't be so bad." Chuckling he went back inside, leaving the two young people alone.  
  
Gilford looked straight into Aria's eyes and used all his charm. "So come here often?"  
  
Aria just stood there turning red, praying that a miracle would happen and her magic suddenly return and of course nothing happened. "Lets just get this over with." Turning she went back to her wood cutting, while Golford left to get a push cart.  
  
Aria was still fuming about how life had decided to name her it's court jester when it dubbed her the world's biggest fool. She felt the area next to shift and Xellos appear. "Not a singe word. Not one!"  
  
"Why Aria I'm hurt! I'm just here to see if your doing ok?" Xellos fell to the ground in mock hurt.  
  
"No I'm not ok! I have no magic, I'm surrounded by people who don't fear me. I can't blow anything up or even make a decent threat now! I'm..I'm.." She was on the verge of shaking she was so frustrated.  
  
"Your human and ordinary. Aria be aware of what Hell Master said. He has already begun his attacks on different towns. Some close to here. At any cost make sure you survive. I can come and talk to you, they have not forbid me that but I can not do anything to help you if you get into trouble." He held her soul locking in the intensity of his gaze.  
  
Gilford came around the house to see Aria shake her head screaming at a purple haired man about how she should be killed not the innocent people. Striking the man across the face she turned and fled into the woods. The purple haired man turned and looked directly at Gilford."Go after her, keep her safe. I will destroy your entire village if you fail." Gilford wasn't sure what chilled him worst, the threat and the fact the man disappeared into thin air or the look in his eyes. Cold and dark. He would have to think about it later, he decided as he took of running after Aria.  
  
Xellos sat there on a branch worried about his only servant. She was valuable and he didn't want her to be killed too soon. The boy, he decided would be good for her, so would the old man would not kill them yet. At least that was what he was trying to convince himself. Something just didn't feel right with him and he couldn't find an answer to what it was.  
  
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Aria had run till her chest hurt, she didn't care about where she was going. She was just so mad at everything, including herself. She leaned her head against a tree, letting tears fall that she had kept pushed back. She felt so helpless, so useless. She felt like she did after her first assignement. Banging her head against the tree lightly she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her, turning her to lean against the person. Reflex more than anything caused her shove him away from her. Black eyes flashed with anger as she dared him to get near her again. "Go away! Leave me alone!"  
  
"Aria what is the matter? Who was that man? What did he say to you to upset you?" Gilford looked at the woman infront of him, he had just met her but something about her made him want to protect her. She was full of strength and life, yet there was a softness there too. She was strange and wild, something he had never seen in the women of the village. What the stranger had said didn't matter anymore.  
  
"Don't you get it. I'm just Aria, no last name, no family, nothing. I am Death's Aria. That was the name given to me by the strongest Dark Lord serving, Shabernigdo. This is my punishment for a crime that I committed against my Masters!" She saw the confusion on his face. She would not explain more, just give him the simple cold truth. "If I stay here, everyone will die. All of the human race is being punished because of me. I will bring death to this village if I stay." 


	8. New Emotions

I don't own Slayer but Aria and some others here are mine! Bwa hahaha!  
  
  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Aria stood looking at the young man holding onto her arm. As his green eyes bore into her black ones, she couldn't look away. Her mind raced at the fact that he wouldn't let her go, and that his voice held a concern in it that she had never heard coming from a stranger. She didn't know what to do. "Why? Why are you condeming your entire village?" Her voice was strained to understand why he even cared about her.  
  
"Aria, I don't know who you are or why you are here. I don't know what makes you think you are responsable for the attacks by the monsters. You say my village is doomed if you stay. The man you were speaking to said he would destroy this village if you are harmed. This village will suffer no matter what happens. I want to know why my village has to suffer and you are the only one that can tell me that. So I am not letting you go." He held her with more than his hand, he held her by his words. He would follow her even if she refused to come back, he had to know and understand. She wasn't the fiery woman that had pinned him to a tree just a little while ago, now she was a girl that was scared and unsure. He never took his eyes from hers, he was sure that she would bolt if he did. "Please, let me help you. Come back and tell me your story."  
  
Her heart ached, she wanted to cry. Gilford didn't know who she was and she was even more afraid to tell him now. 'He is trying to be a hero, he looks at me as if I am an innocent girl trapped in something that isn't my fault, but he couldn't be more wrong.' She shook her head not daring to speak, her voice would betray her she just knew it. Aria was about to try to run again when his words reached her, making her stop.  
  
"Aria at least help me save my home and my family. If you can not save the world, help just a few. Running will make no difference in the end, the results will be the same. But if you stay and help the people here, it will make all the difference in the world." He softened his voice and reached out to her. His efforts were rewarded by the feeling of her tears soaking into his shirt as Aria broke down and let the anger and frustration go. After a while she looked up to him and he smiled back down to her, wiping her tears. "Ready to go back now? When she simplely nodded her head he turned around still holding her and walked back towards the house.  
  
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Gilford leaned forward, buring his head in his hands as he heard the door slam to the room Aria had been given. He looked up only to see the look of complete anger Aitrus was rewarding him with for his stupidity. He didn't know what to say, he had convinced her to stay, to open herself up to him. He held her talking softly to her the entire way back to the house. They had ate supper together, he even got her to laugh some at his stories of mundane life. He had begged her to tell her story to him and she had.  
  
"By Cehpied what have I done?" He spoke more to himself than to anyone. She told him who she was and what position she held in life. Aria was a servant to the man with purple hair no, the monster he had seen. She didn't hide the fact she was an assassin more or less. She killed when she was told to. She had hesitated telling him that the increase of attacks are her fault because of simple disobediance. "What have I done? She told me everything, she didn't lie to me once did she?" He looked up to the old black mage, knowing she hadn't but he needed to hear it from someone else.  
  
"No she didn't lie to you. She is Aria, servant to the Monster Race. Tell me something Gilford, what did you think she is?" He rarely used his presence as a mage, he didn't like to frighten people without cause, but tonight he let his full power radiate around him. He was angry, and determined to make the rash young man squirm.  
  
"I thought she was. She was somone that. I don't know what I thought she was." Gilford tripped over his words, he face turning red with guilt. "I thought she was some innocent girl not willingly involved with evil." His voice fell to a whisper.  
  
"Your right in your assumption. She was raised by the man, who by the way is called Xellos. He is a monster, very true. He killed her father who was also a servant to him. She knows this as well. She can no more help who she is than you or I can help being what we are now. She was give very little choice in her life. Now for making a choice that was not hers to make she is to watch everyone be punished for her crime. She is a servant to the monster, but she is still human. She does not like much of what she has done and she took no pride in her life when she told you either." Aitrus could see Gilford cringing as what he said sunk in slowly. "Gilford my young man, you have done to Aria tonight what she has been met with her whole life. You judged her by what you assumed she is, and then when you find out she was nothing close to what you thought she was...."  
  
"I lashed out at her in anger. I called her evil and accused her lying to me. I called her a witch, a killer. I jumped away from her as if she were filled with some plague. By the God's.... I am a fool. She did what I asked her to do and she didn't want to, knowing how I would react. But I couldn't leave well enough alone could I? I kept pressing her to tell me." Gilford stood up and paced around the table shame and guilt eating at him.  
  
"Be thankful her magic is sealed away. You might not be here to reflect and beat yourself up over this. Go Gilford and talk to her. Do something no one has ever done for her. Give her a second chance. You know her secret, now prove her wrong. She opened up and trusted a stranger hoping she would be wrong, let her hopes come true." Nothing more was said between the men as both went their seperate ways.  
  
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Gilford took each step slowly, trying to form an apology in his mind. He was still in shock at what he had learned in one day. Aria, a woman no older than he himself was raised to be an assassin and negotiator for the human agents of the monster race. Most of his life he had heard stories about her. People would use tales about her to make children behave, but she wasn't this ugly witch that people had painted her to be. He never in his wildest dreams though he would make such a feared woman burst into tears and leave running from a room. He never thought he would feel so ashamed of himself and be trying to think of an apology to say to Aria.  
  
Standing before the door to her room he took a deep breath and knocked. 'No turning back now Gilford.' He stood there, giving her a moment before raising his hand to knock again, he didn't blame her for not opening the door.  
  
Aria sat on the bed, her clothes were laid out and she was about to change. The tears that were being shed when she had left the sitting room dried quickly as her pain turned to anger. She was furious, opening herself up to this man was a complete mistake. He had shoved her away as if she were a filthy beast. She didn't understand people no matter how hard she tried and now she didn't care.'Let the human race die for all it matters, what are they to me. Nothing. I am nothing to them, so why should I give a single damn about them. I am Death, I am hate, I am Aria...' Her thoughts were cut short as someone knocked.  
  
The first sound was Aria's hand leaving a red mark across Gilford's cheek as it echoed through the still hallway. The sound of a door being slamed in Gilford's face was the next heard. The last sound heard was her locking the door. Aria quickly started to change and Gilford stood there holding his face where the stinging slap was starting to show.  
  
"Ok, I deserved that." Gilford rubbed his face and knocked again. "Aria please, I want to talk to you. I want to apologise."  
  
"Go away! I have nothing more to say to you."  
  
"Please, let me explain to you that I am an idiot and fool that listens to the old women tell their stories to children. Let explain that I was wrong to judge you, that my own shallow ego was hurt to find that you were not what I had dreamed you to be. Let me tell you that I am more sorry for what I have done tonight than I have ever been in my entire life. Give me the chance to try to make it right, to do you justice. Please Lady Aria give me another chance, I beg you on bended knee." Gilford dropped to his knee and took the most chivalrous pose he could muster. He prayed that it would draw her from her room.  
  
Aria definitely felt better, she leaned against the wall and heard him ask again to talk to her. He was the last person she ever wanted to talk to again. He was persistant, she couldn't deny him that. Closing her eyes she leaned her head back against the wall listening to him talk. She didn't pay much attention at first, but then she did, his words again began to draw her in. She looked at the door as if she were looking at him again in the woods. Again her heart didn't know what to do, it wanted so badly to believe but it also screamed at her to not open the door. She felt tears run down her face, how often as a child had she dreamed of somone taking her away from the pain and the hurt. Then he asked again for another chance. Before anything could stop her, including herself, she opened her door and her heart to the man outside on bended knee. 


End file.
